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Beer |OT2| Can't stop won't stop the fresh hop

riotous

Banned
Scotch barrel? Damn, that didn't come here. Sounds good.
The brandy one was good, but not $23 a bottle good. I thought the base Abyss was better. The rye whiskey one from last year was better.

Scotch was more limited; had it behind the counter at my main bottle shop.

Decided to open it as it's sitting on the shelf at my grocery store so wanted to see if it was worth aging; it's definitely good but don't think I'll be buying another to cellar.

I'm always prepared to drink the whole thing though, like I've never been halfway through Even More Jesus and thought yo I'm gonna save this for later

Have never corked a beer crew.

Crowlers can be a bit intimidating to open, had to stop buying big beers in crowlers as I'd always hesitate to oepn them. Not that I couldn't finish even a 14+ % ABV with my wife, it's just I'd rather mix it up with 2 different beers.
 

TheFlow

Banned
sup new to this thread.

been drinking IPA stuff for about a year and love it. I haven't had any of the hardcore stuff yet.

some of my favorite beers come from

Magic Hat

Koana

Victory Brewing company

fat tire

Goose Island

tried this for the first a couple days ago. loved the taste. plan to try the other brands.
233519731a864fb3428a0510fd85e497.jpg
 
Speaking of Kona, their Hanalei Island (POG) IPA is really solid. One of the better uses of guava in a beer, especially in an IPA. I know we don't think much of Kona due to it being grocery store beer and a part of the CBA (33% owned by InBev), but I'm really enjoying it.

Scotch was more limited; had it behind the counter at my main bottle shop.

Decided to open it as it's sitting on the shelf at my grocery store so wanted to see if it was worth aging; it's definitely good but don't think I'll be buying another to cellar.

Brandy and Scotch don't seem to be all that limited, at least around here. Kinda like last year how Deschutes shipped a small amount of the two variants initially to drive up hype, then flooded the market a month later and it took forever for those bottles to sell. I've seen both sitting around at Safeway, Whole Foods and even Winco of all places.
 

riotous

Banned
lol, guess that doesn't surprise me. Pretty sure Central Market by my house still has some last year variants in their cellar room.
 
Winco was charging $21.88 for the variants. Easily the cheapest I've seen anywhere.

Still shocked Winco had regular Abyss and the variants.
 
I'm always prepared to drink the whole thing though, like I've never been halfway through Even More Jesus and thought yo I'm gonna save this for later

Heh well maybe I'm a lightweight, but there's times where I've opened a tallboy can of a strong stout, got halfway through and thought, "I have to get up early, this was a bad idea."

Are "crowlers" the big bottles? Those are the ones I usually cork.
 

riotous

Banned
Crowlers are like growlers but are cans; 32 oz cans that bottle shops make for you from beers they have on tap.

Bombers are the bigger bottles.
 
Ok, so this devils backbone real ale is not my favorite beer. It's not bitter but,k it's got an odd flavor like spicy peppermint. I didn't care for it and at 8% alcohol it was strong. I'm not sure I'll buy another case.

Heh well maybe I'm a lightweight, but there's times where I've opened a tallboy can of a strong stout, got halfway through and thought, "I have to get up early, this was a bad idea."

Are "crowlers" the big bottles? Those are the ones I usually cork.

I hate drinking before bed. Keeps me up for a couple hours and I always have to pee like crazy during the night.
 
Grabbed a Victory at Sea today, hadn't had the original in a while. Really one of my favorite porters, it's a perfect winter beer. Strong, creamy, great flavor balance, and that vanilla component is mighty tasty.
 
Another expensive day. Prairie Bible Belt and barrel aged Bible Belt, 3 Floyds Necron 99 and Stack n Stabb, and McKeller George. Left the McKeller Hopgeek Breakfast there for another trip.
 

HiResDes

Member
Made the big mistake of buying a four pack of Founder's Frootwood. It's a medicinal glucose bomb.


Also left Hop Geek and legitimately put it back after thinking about it.

I got London Balling and Even More Jesus so not a total wash
 

riotous

Banned
I've been meaning to try Frootwood; don't think it's worth trading for though since I can just go buy it.

Maybe give it to a bum?
 
Quite the RIS haul there! I've only had the Ivan, which I wasn't fond of, but the rest look interesting. That Matryoshka sounds like my cup of vodka.
I had a 2013 Ivan last year, and it was pretty great, so I'll probably just sit on that one for a while. All the others are new for me.
 
On a local Facebook group

Guy 1: Missed out on the Wonder Twins this week. Anyone have some they want to share?"
Guy 2: Yeah I got 2. I want to open one this weekend if you want to swing by"
Guy 1: Oh, thanks, but I need some to trade with the guy who's getting me some Treehouse."
Guy 2: "....."

This is the type of behavior that drives people who just want to try some of the big local releases crazy.
 
tried this for the first a couple days ago. loved the taste. plan to try the other brands.
233519731a864fb3428a0510fd85e497.jpg

Sculpin is great; try it on tap too if you can find it. If you like porters, I recommend their Victory at Sea. I'm drinking it again tonight -- rich, creamy, cocoa and coffee with a nice vanilla sheen on top.
 

HiResDes

Member
Sculpin ain't special enough to warrant the prices they want to charge in Ohio...I've definitely become more of an advocate of drinking local IPAs over big distributors for the most part with the exception of like Stone Enjoy By on tap.
 
Sculpin ain't special enough to warrant the prices they want to charge in Ohio...I've definitely become more of an advocate of drinking local IPAs over big distributors for the most part with the exception of like Stone Enjoy By on tap.

Heh fair enough. I'm in SoCal so it's a local for me. Unfortunately we don't get many midwest beers out here.
 

Wallach

Member
Picked up a new stout to try tonight; Salted Caramel Stout from Breakside Brewery.

It's pretty weird. Good weird, but I don't think I could drink more than a pint.
 
Today I tried the Stone Chocolate Coffee IPA

Overall great, as you would expect from Stone. Chocolate and coffee is very subtle. If you had their great mocha IPA, it's less than that. But still tasty without being overpowering as it's a hard to balance the sweetness to an IPA
 
Picked up a new stout to try tonight; Salted Caramel Stout from Breakside Brewery.

It's pretty weird. Good weird, but I don't think I could drink more than a pint.
I've tried a bunch of Breakside's stuff, and never really enjoyed any of them. I'm not sure what their stuff is missing but there's just something not there for me.
Those prices are insane, the mark up here in San Diego is ridiculous :(

That is some highway robbery prices to me.
Yeah, my local bottle place up here in Corvallis treats us right with their pricing. Plus no sales tax in Oregon!
 

Jarnet87

Member
I grabbed a can of Hopslam, a bottle of Alpine Pure Hoppiness and a bottle of Fruitwood this morning. Everything I have read on Fruitwood has been negative but I thought it was worth trying lol.
 
Heh fair enough. I'm in SoCal so it's a local for me. Unfortunately we don't get many midwest beers out here.

Ballast Point's pricing structure is the same everywhere. I don't perceive their beers to be better than the completion, so the increased price for a six pack just isn't worth it.

I like Grapefruit Sculpin a lot, but not when I can get other beers that are just as good or better for less.
 
Ballast Point's pricing structure is the same everywhere. I don't perceive their beers to be better than the completion, so the increased price for a six pack just isn't worth it.

I like Grapefruit Sculpin a lot, but not when I can get other beers that are just as good or better for less.

Eh.. as always, taste and preference is subjective. I'm not a huge fan of the super-hopped California IPAs, but I do like Sculpin and a few others. I only have it on tap though, and it's fairly cheap. Of course compared to some of the prices y'all have posted, nothing here in SoCal is very cheap.
 
Sculpin has an MSRP of $12.99 for a six pack. I don't think the product is $3 better than the competition, and this is a common complaint that you see online. Also, I can get Fremont or Bale Breaker for $9.99 so they'll always win.
 

Mitch

Banned
Sculpin is $15 in Cleveland. Not worth it. I'll keep Grapefruit Sculpin on draft, but only if it's under $6. Then again, I'll usually see better offerings on draft.
 
I had no idea BP was even owned by a corp. The SD breweries are basically "local" for me so I don't keep track of what gets wide distribution. Most of the beers you talk about from the NW and midwest I've never seen or heard of; it's pretty much just SD and LA breweries down here. Maybe y'all are spoiled for choice.

fwiw, I'll take an Alpine IPA or AleSmith any day over Sculpin.
 
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